Classroom Management: Building a Community

Circle Forward is a resource guide designed to help teachers, administrators, students and parents incorporate the practice of Circles into the everyday life of the school community. This resource guide offers comprehensive step-by-step instructions for how to plan, facilitate and implement the Circle for a variety of purposes within the school environment. It describes the basic process, essential elements and a step-by-step guide for how to organize, plan, and lead Circles. It also provides over one hundred specific lesson plans and ideas for the application of Circles in the following areas of school life:* Learning and establishing a Circle practice* Establishing and affirming community norms* Teaching and learning in Circle* Building connection and community* Promoting social-emotional skills* Facilitating important but difficult conversations* Working together as adults* Engaging parents and the wider community* Developing students as leaders in peer Circles* Using Circles for restorative discipline

The school-to-prison pipeline is often the path for marginalized students, particularly black males, who are three times as likely to be suspended as White students. This volume provides an ethnographic portrait of how educators can implement restorative justice to build positive school cultures and address disciplinary problems in a more corrective and less punitive manner. Looking at the school-to-prison pipeline in a historical context, it analyzes current issues facing schools and communities and ways that restorative justice can improve behavior and academic achievement. By practicing a critical restorative justice, educators can reduce the domino effect between suspension and incarceration and foster a more inclusive school climate.

Don't Suspend Me! is written in a user-friendly reference format with practical actions given on how to handle particular behaviours, as well as the reasoning behind the need for alternative approaches to student discipline. Accompanying the book is a Companion Website with resources such as worksheets, exercises and case studies. 

Restorative practice (RP) has been successfully implemented in schools for decades and is primarily associated with improving behaviour and relationships, by changing the culture of problem solving in the school. However, it has huge untapped potential to support initiatives in other areas, and this book provides examples of how RP can enhance the effectiveness of these other practices. Split into three sections, the book first looks at implementation, readiness and evaluation. It then covers integrating RP with, and linking RP into, other issues relevant to schools such as trauma, poverty, and mindfulness, and finally shows how to work well with parents and families. The book gives proven strategies for measuring success and evaluating effectiveness. Overall, it provides insight into a variety of issues RP can help schools with, and addresses them in practical ways to help schools implement restorative practice to its full potential.

Eliminate old-school punishments and create a community of responsible, productive learners Are you or your teachers frustrated with carrots and sticks, detention rooms, and suspension--antiquated school discipline practices that simply do not work with the students entering our classrooms today? Our kids have complex needs, and we must empower and embrace them with restorative practices that not only change behaviors but transform students into productive citizens, accountable for their own actions. Replace traditional school discipline with a proven system, founded on restorative justice In a book that should become your new blueprint for school discipline, teachers, presenters, and school leaders Nathan Maynard and Brad Weinstein demonstrate how to eliminate punishment and build a culture of responsible students and independent learners.

Restorative practice is a proven approach to discipline in schools that favours relationships over retribution, and has been shown to improve behaviour and enhance teaching and learning outcomes. However, in order for it to work, restorative practice needs a relational school culture. Implementing Restorative Practice in Schools explains what has to happen in a school in order for it to become truly restorative. Section 1 explains the potential of restorative practice in schools, describing the positive outcomes for students and teachers. It also outlines the measures that need to be in place in order to embed restorative practice. Section 2 examines the process of understanding and managing change, providing realistic and pragmatic guidance on the practical and emotional barriers that may be encountered. Finally, Section 3 provides in eight practical steps, strategic guidance for achieving a restorative culture that sticks. Featuring useful pro formas and templates, this book will be an indispensable guide for educators, administrators and school leaders in mainstream and specialist settings.

Howard Zehr is the father of Restorative Justice and is known worldwide for his pioneering work in transforming understandings of justice. Here he proposes workable principles and practices for making Restorative Justice possible. This resource is also suitable for academic classes, Teachers and Education Leadership and workshops, for conferences and trainings, as well as for the layperson interested in understanding this innovative and influential movement.

Can community-building begin in a classroom? The authors of this book believe that by applying restorative justice at school, we can build a healthier and more just society. With practical applications and models. Can an overworked teacher possibly turn an unruly incident with students into an "opportunity for learning, growth, and community-building"? If restorative justice has been able to salvage lives within the world of criminal behavior, why shouldn't its principles be applied in school classrooms and cafeterias? And if our children learn restorative practices early and daily, won't we be building a healthier, more just society? Two educators answer yes, yes, and yes in this new addition to The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding series. Amstutz and Mullet offer applications and models. "Discipline that restores is a process to make things as right as possible." This Little Book shows how to get there.